Paper soon will lose its role as a mass-produced vehicle for publishing newspapers, magazines and books.
E- (electronic) will describe most future reading material and embrace either computer-disc or Internet formats rather than newsprint or glossy paper.
Readers will get their publications via the World Wide Web or by buying CDs at newsstands, bookstores or supermarket kiosks.
To mimic the convenient portability of paper publications, E-documents on CDs or downloaded from computers will be accessed in lightweight, letter-sized, battery-powered tablets.
Special styluses will be used to select options, pinpoint items of interest, turn pages and enter data.
Losers will be loggers, recyclers, ink and paper producers, lithographers and birdcages.
Winners will be woodland creatures and the human race. (1 APRIL 2007)
